Jubilee Weekend

The Jubilee weekend is coming up, and I've lots of food-related tasks to do!

My good friend Scott will celebrate his 30th birthday up in Leeds on Saturday. I'll be helping to put on a fantastic spread at the church space he's booked for his party. Being a good Yorkshire boy he's also requested a tea-loaf instead of a traditional birthday cake - so I'll have to bake up something special!
The next day I'll be back down to London - with a picnic in my trolley - to meet my friends the Faeries down on the river, for the Jubilee Pageant. The weather looks like it might be less than ideal (this is becoming the running theme for this summer, and for my blog!) but I'll bring a travelling picnic anyway. At the end of the day, what could be more British than standing in the pouring rain, waving a little plastic flag, with a cream-cake in one hand and a glass of Pimms in the other??

To top it all off, I plan to wear my 1950's housewife's dress. If that sounds strange, perhaps you should read a little more about the Albion Faeries...

Don't forget that The Big Lunch also comes to Telegraph Hill on Sunday, 3rd June. If you're not down by the river, it's a great chance to meet local people and enjoy a festive, party atmosphere - all fuelled by good home-made food! It will be all afternoon, out on Kitto Road outside St Catherine's Church, Telegraph Hill.

Common Growth Community Garden

So the poor weather continues apace, but things are looking green and lush down at Common Growth on Sandbourne Road... I was in there yesterday pottering around in the drizzle!

I'm sure I can't remember such a disappointing summer, weather-wise. And I grew up in Yorkshire!!

...and even more nettles!

Just a quick recipe for nettle soup. I feel like we should be eating summer salads by now - maybe that's just wishful thinking - but the weather, and the garden, suggest that nettles are still on the menu!

NETTLE SOUP

1 cup broth mix, soaked as per instructions
1 cup diced onion, carrot, potato etc.
1 cup chopped nettle-tops (or any other foraged greenery!)
Stock cube or 1 teaspoon bouillon

Bring the soaked broth mix to the boil in 2 to 3 cups of stock. Cover and reduce to a simmer (typically for 40mins). Halfway through the cooking time add the chopped vegetables. For freshness of flavour, only add the nettle-tops in the last few minutes of cooking!

Serve with warm crusty bread. Try chopping brie or camembert directly into the hot soup, as the French sometimes do.

More nettles!

Or here's an idea: wild nettle quiche. You can find your own easy quiche recipe online; just add steamed nettles (see post below) as your filling. For extra flavour you could add butter, and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Last night's dinner, a light and fluffy nettle quiche...

Recipes from the Wild Food Cafe...

Aha! I now have photos and recipe sheets saved from the Wild Food Cafe, and I'm going to share them here for all to enjoy.

The guiding principle behind Wild Food Cafe is to make foraged food easily accessible, from begining to end. So the recipe below uses nettles - supposedly one of the first plants that children learn to identify across the temperate world (and for good reason!)

Since we all know what a nettle looks like, we can all find them. But then you need to know how to pick them without getting stung! It turns out it's easy - just wear a pair of gloves. Your winter gloves will do, or a pair of leather driving gloves... rubber 'marigolds'... whatever you have available! If you're gentle, you can gently pluck out the tips of the plants without getting stung. Give it a try! :)

Nettles are available through most of the year, but they're best in the springtime when they're really tender, with an almost fruity aroma. If you're picking later in the year, only take the young, highest tips of the plant. The older leaves lower down are coarse, and they contain a chemical that can exacerbate arthritis - so it's best to avoid them.

So now you know how to pick them, here's a recipe for Wild Nettle Pakora...

OVEN-BAKED WILD NETTLE PAKORA

1 cup of gram (chickpea) flour
Half-teaspoon of baking powder
Generous tablespoon of curry powder and spices, to taste – try cumin, coriander, turmeric etc.

1 cup peanuts (or any crunchy, chunky veg such as cauliflower or grated carrot)
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup or more of chopped, steamed nettles

To steam the nettles, put them with a spoonful of boiling water into a pan with a tight-fitting lid. The nettles will quickly wilt, becoming dark green and soft. They will be ready within a minute or two - they can no longer sting you, and they are ready to eat!

Now combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add one cup of cold water, to form a paste. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Place dollops of mixture onto generously oiled and pre-heated baking trays or pudding tins. The dollops should hold their own shape - you may need to adjust the consistency using a little more gram flour or water!

Drizzle with a little more oil before baking for a crisp, golden finish. Bake in a moderate oven until risen and well browned – perhaps 20-30mins.

Serve hot or cold with a yoghurt and mint dip, or sweet chilli sauce.

Because they're oven-baked, these pakora are really healthy - although you can also deep-fry them if you're feeling naughty! They're packed full of protein and essential nutrients - and they're vegan, too.

Now you know how to make steamed nettles, you can add them into any recipe where you would use leaves like spinach. How about adding nettles to pasta sauce, curry, or a vegetable stew?

Foraging, whatever the weather!

Last week's Wild Food Cafe was a resounding success. Despite the atrocious weather, more than a dozen hardy folk turned up to gather a wild feast from around Margaret MacMillan Park in the heart of Deptford. We were in good spirits, and enjoyed home-made pesto, wild rocket salad, and various other treats!

Thank you to all who came - and watch this space for information about a midsummer forage!

Enjoying our feast at Come the Revolution community cafe...